Okk... so when I post, it seems like I come out to much. I have no clue why. Here is a video. Please comment and I will always except advise. No rude comments please. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFPhpzWSebU Thanks.

My daughter tends to post the way you do. In her case, she is riding a saddle that is too big for her - which is because she has to share a saddle with the adults in the household and insists on only riding western. Western saddles for small Arabians are hard to find, and the only one we've found so far is a 16" seat.

When you ride, gravity wants to place your feet so the stirrup straps hang straight down. That is the normal place for your feet to go, and anywhere else is a fight against gravity. Meanwhile, your rump seeks the lowest spot in the saddle - gravity again. If the saddle is too big, then gravity is trying to put your feet out in front of your rump - the 'chair seat'.

When riding with a long leg, a chair seat doesn't hurt you much. Your leg just angles a bit forward. However, when riding with shorter stirrups, your leg forms an upside down L. When you post, you naturally want to balance above the stirrup, and the only way that can happen is for your butt to come forward...and since the stirrups are not going to go down, that means your butt has to go up - way up.

The Dad in me refuses to buy a $1500 saddle for my growing daughter. It would be an annual expense. And since she prefers riding western, I told her to use a longer leg and just accept that she doesn't need to get her heel all the way under her while posting.

Unless your jumping higher fences, I'd recommend lowering your stirrup and accepting that you don't need to reach a rest point with your hip suspended above your heel. Strengthen your leg (squats?) and practice posting with the goal of barely getting above the saddle. Instead of thinking of it as getting up in the stirrup, think of it as stretching your stirrup down just enough to take the impact out of a sitting trot.

The purpose of posting is to reduce impact on the horse's back, not to get you in a balanced standing position.

Thanks so much everyone. I do think its because the saddle is a size bigger then I am supposed to use, but that is the smallest one they have. Another reason I think is that I move my shoulders back to much when I post so I just need to calm my post down a little bit and just relax when I post. Thanks! =)

Alright, here's your problem: your center of balance is off. At the beginning of the video, you tipped forwards, and after a few seconds your leg slid forward and you tipped back. Your center of balance is always changing. This is because your legs are unstable. When your legs are unstable, your upper body must do all the work. For every pound that moves forwards, a pound must move back. Your core for posting is all in your legs, and like bsms said, the only way for you to post is to move your hips over your legs. But if your legs are too far forwards, your shoulders must come back, and you must rise higher in order to stay balanced.

The solution is to strengthen your legs and work on keeping them in place. Posting without stirrups is a great excercise. Don't think about posting up, down, instead think about posting forward, back. Keep your heels waaaayyy down, and never ever grip with knees. Strengthen your leg muscles. Squats lunges, stretching your heels, touching your toes... those are all good leg excercises.

Your stirrups may also be too short. When you hang your leg down, they should be at your heel and no shorter. For flatwork, you can even lower them one or two hole and then bring them up again while jumping. Just try to stretch your legs down and put all the weight there.

What you do wrong is you post with your whole body. Instead try to keep your upper body and hands very quiet and post with your hips/pelvis. The good exersize would be if you take a big exersize ball (they are sold in Wal Mart), sit on top of it as you'd sit on horse and try to go up and down with hips only. This way you'll get the idea.

Also yes, the saddle may be not balanced well for you: your leg is quite forward.

I'm sorry, and I don't mean to confuse but I disagree with Emeraldstar... Riding is in your inner core, not in your legs and the same goes for posting. Your ride with your whole body and a strong inner core helps you in everything you do on your horse, including posting. A workout that includes exercises to improve your inner core such as yoga or pilates may be of help to you. Also, posting is not forward and back... If you watch videos of riders from hunter/jumpers to dressage they do not go back and forth.

Yes I agree, the saddle is too big, so it's harder for you to get proper position. You do need to strengthen your grip which is the whole inside of your thighs... but to be able to do this you need more control of your lower legs so they aren't pulling you around. I suggest a good pair of half chaps with some good grip to help you a little bit.

One of my trainers when I was younger gave me some advice that has always served me well where it comes to posting. Don't think about powering yourself out of the saddle, or what it looks like at first. Instead let the horse's rhythm push you up out of the saddle and then from there it is up t you to CONTROL where it goes. Use your inner core combined with your thighs to control what your body does. Once you have built up those muscles for control (which took me a few months) you will eventually feel like you are floating over the horse. Posting without stirrups really helps a lot. Be prepared to be off balance or maybe for a fall until you build up to doing it well without stirrups. But don't give up, it can be done... We have kids at my stable that ride around like maniacs, going over 3 foot jumps with no stirrups at all and from a distance you would never tell they had no stirrups.

Another tip that I actually learned here is to imagine you have a cute little baby kitty under the seat of your saddle...when you post you don't want to squish the kitty...again, practice controlling yourself so that you don't squish the kitty when you come back into your seat.

Overall, don't sweat it. A good post takes quite a bit of time to develop. It's not just knowledge of how, it's actually building and training your own muscles.

I'm sorry, and I don't mean to confuse but I disagree with Emeraldstar... Riding is in your inner core, not in your legs and the same goes for posting. Your ride with your whole body and a strong inner core helps you in everything you do on your horse, including posting. A workout that includes exercises to improve your inner core such as yoga or pilates may be of help to you. Also, posting is not forward and back... If you watch videos of riders from hunter/jumpers to dressage they do not go back and forth.

Oops, I guess I worded that wrong. That really wasn't what I meant. I agree that riding is in your inner core, what I mean is that you absolutely need to have proper legs for posting. If you don't have your leg structure, the rest of your position will begin to fall apart.

And yes posting is forward/back, but not to the extreme. To post properly you must swing your hips back and forth while rising slightly out of the saddle, not just standing up and down (just going up/down would make your very unbalanced). Hunter/jumpers and dressage riders do go back and forth, not an extreme motion but it is there. If you actually analyse your own posting you'll probably notice that you do it too. Thinking forward, back helps stay low to the saddle while still moving in sync with the horse.

Sorry if it was hard to understand. I hope I explained myself a little better.

You got a lot of great advice. To be brutally honest, I think you have some serious work to do on strengthening your leg and your seat before you even consider doing any jumping. Your horse is just adorable and is taking good care of you, but if appears to me that one small, sudden prop on her part and you'd go right off. I hope that doesn't sound mean, but if I were your instructor, I would have you riding without stirrups on a llunge line a lot more, riding bareback some and/or riding for awhile in a western saddle.

You are riding totallly off the stirrup, without much knee or thing contact, and you are so stiff that you are not able to absorb enough of the horse's motion, thus are kind of thrown around like a rag doll when things change suddenly.

Since you don't yet have body control, I would not take up a tighter rein contact.

You seem like a brave rider and you keep your head up and all. I bet with some work on such things as mentioned by me and the others, you will see a real improvement and feel so much more solid in the saddle.
Good luck and thank you for sharing .

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